BMAD Posted February 20, 2013 Report Share Posted February 20, 2013 Why are trailers rectangular And flower pots circular in shape? (There is a mathematical explanation) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 BMAD Posted February 25, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2013 (edited) Think from the perspective of the owner/creator Edited February 25, 2013 by BMAD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 bonanova Posted March 1, 2013 Report Share Posted March 1, 2013 I'll bump this unanswered puzzle, and wait for an answer that I cannot even imagine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 BMAD Posted March 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2013 (edited) Edited March 1, 2013 by BMAD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 k-man Posted March 1, 2013 Report Share Posted March 1, 2013 I don't know about the mathematical explanation, but there is an obvious practical one. There are flower pots that are not round in shape, but historically the flower pots were made from clay by shaping clay into a pot on a spinning disk giving them their round shape. Trailer construction attempts to maximize the interior space to fit in certain exterior dimensions, so naturally a rectangular shape makes sense. Same reason that shipping boxes, containers, cabinets, etc are mostly rectangular in shape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 bushindo Posted March 1, 2013 Report Share Posted March 1, 2013 Why are trailers rectangular And flower pots circular in shape? (There is a mathematical explanation) Okay, I'll bite =) I would guess that it is dependent on the intended function. Flower pots are intended to hold both soil and plants. The soil comes in contact with both the bottom of the pot and the sides, and thus the flower pot needs to be circular in order to distribute the horizontal force from the soil and plants evenly. A rectangular flower pot would have weak-points at the corners where the sides join, and thus would not be as optimal a design. Trailers are rectangular because they are intended to carry their load on the floor or bottom of the enclosure. The walls of the trailers are not primarily intended for load-bearing, and thus they do not need to be circular to distribute the weight. As a further argument, consider gas trucks that carry their liquid load in cylindrical tanks. Since the liquid gas applies pressure on both the floor and the sides of the tanks, the tanks are designed as a cylinder (actually more like a sphere elongated on 1 axis- see attached image) to prevent structural faults that would arise from uneven force distribution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 BMAD Posted March 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2013 You are on the right track. With today's technology it is very well possible, and for some aesthetic purposes (non round flower pots) are made, but why even with today's technology are they still constructing most flower pots round and trailers rectangular (based). You are very close with your trailer reasoning. I don't know about the mathematical explanation, but there is an obvious practical one. There are flower pots that are not round in shape, but historically the flower pots were made from clay by shaping clay into a pot on a spinning disk giving them their round shape. Trailer construction attempts to maximize the interior space to fit in certain exterior dimensions, so naturally a rectangular shape makes sense. Same reason that shipping boxes, containers, cabinets, etc are mostly rectangular in shape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 BMAD Posted March 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2013 This may very well be true but is well beyond the scope of my training when I used to work in manufacturing. Why are trailers rectangular And flower pots circular in shape? (There is a mathematical explanation) Okay, I'll bite =) I would guess that it is dependent on the intended function. Flower pots are intended to hold both soil and plants. The soil comes in contact with both the bottom of the pot and the sides, and thus the flower pot needs to be circular in order to distribute the horizontal force from the soil and plants evenly. A rectangular flower pot would have weak-points at the corners where the sides join, and thus would not be as optimal a design. Trailers are rectangular because they are intended to carry their load on the floor or bottom of the enclosure. The walls of the trailers are not primarily intended for load-bearing, and thus they do not need to be circular to distribute the weight. As a further argument, consider gas trucks that carry their liquid load in cylindrical tanks. Since the liquid gas applies pressure on both the floor and the sides of the tanks, the tanks are designed as a cylinder (actually more like a sphere elongated on 1 axis- see attached image) to prevent structural faults that would arise from uneven force distribution.gas_truck_tugalo.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 BMAD Posted March 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 Flower pots are circular because it gives the most area (of the easily manufactured shapes) for the given amount of material; that is, it uses the least amount of material to make the most area possible Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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Why are trailers rectangular And flower pots circular in shape? (There is a mathematical explanation)
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